A small town
sat alone in the wilderness outside of Japan’s cities. Four young children ran
alongside a fence while smacking the fence bars with sticks. They laughed as
they picked up their speed, trying to out-race each other.

The kids skid
to a halt when they saw three clowns nearby rolling a large stone boulder
almost as tall as they were. The children did not recognize that the clowns were
Dorodoro in disguise.

The soldiers
kicked the rock and it shot towards the kids. They screamed and turned to run
but it was too late. The boulder slammed against them, but instead of crushing
the kids, it absorbed them.

The kids
screamed from their stone prison as Dorodoro moved the boulder forward.

The teens
pulled Nekomaru to a stop on a wooded hill. A road wrapped around the hill. The
van parked on the side of the road as the teens got out and stretched. They had
a clear view of the small town below.

“What a drive,”
Zack said as he yawned.

Richie pointed
down to the town in the valley below. “Is that where we’re headed?” he asked
his friends.

Trini nodded.
“Yes.”

“Then let’s get
going,” Jonathan said with excitement. “We haven’t had any R and R since we got
to this country.”

Their trip to
the town was technically for class research. But a homework assignment was a
vacation compared with fighting the Youkai. The teens were looking forward to a
normal outing.

The five teens
entered the city streets. No one was around. They were not expecting as large a
crowd as in a city. But the streets should not have been completely void of
anyone. A small breeze blew across the buildings, flapping several window
shades.

A young boy ran
towards them from a nearby street. He pleaded frantically with them in
Japanese.

“Jonathan?”
Jason asked. Jonathan was the only ranger who spoke the language fluently.

Jonathan asked
the boy a question in Japanese. The boy answered while waving his hands as he
spoke.

Jonathan looked
to Jason and Trini. “He says some of his friends have disappeared…and the whole
town is acting weird. He said it’s like a ghost town. So much for R and R.”

A Youkai
scientist worked at a computer terminal in a basement. His lab was mobile,
moving from town to city depending on his needs. He wore a dirty white jacket.
His ears were pointed and his dry hair was disheveled.

Some Dorodoro
rolled the boulder into the dimly-lit lab. The scientist, Yugami, grinned at
the sight of the stone. A gleam of evil shimmered in his eye. “Excellent…”

Yugami held his
ear against the boulder. A long-nosed Youkai monster entered the room. “This
had better work, Yugami.”

The boy led
Trini and the rangers through the empty town streets. Jonathan and the boy were
discussing recent events at the town.

“This is
weird,” Zack said.

A man and woman
came into view, walking across a road perpendicular to the rangers. The boy’s
eyes opened wide when he saw them. He darted towards the couple. “Papa! Kaja!”

The boy ran to
his parents and tugged on their sleeves. But they kept walking forward, their
eyes glazed over in a trance. Their son kept pleading but they did not seem to
notice.

Doors along the
entire street suddenly swung open. The rangers stopped in their tracks as
groups of townspeople walked outside. The peoples’ eyes were glazed over, and
they carried knives and clubs in hand.

The townspeople
suddenly charged forward towards the rangers with their weapons held high. The
rangers snapped into fighting stances.

“We can’t hurt
them,” Trini said.

“We have to
help the kid,” Jonathan said

“Richie,” Trini
said, signaling him to follow her as she ran to help the young boy.

Jonathan
grumbled beneath his breath. “Richie…?”

Jason grabbed a
man’s wrist and twisted the knife away while lifting his right arm to block a
bat swing. “Split up!” Jason said as he spun past a man while parrying another
knife strike.

Richie and
Trini dashed forward as fast as they could through a group of townspeople.
Richie ducked beneath a bat swing and spun forward. Trini swept a man’s leg out
to break away from a group of eight men that tried to gang up on her.

The young boy
started running, having lost sight of his parents in the mob. Amidst the mob, a
group of Dorodoro rolled the massive boulder down the streets. The grunts aimed
the boulder towards the boy and pushed faster.

Richie and
Trini leapt forward, stepping over a pair of mobsters and pushing off to slam
flying sidekicks against the Dorodoro. The grunts toppled backward, but managed
to give the boulder a final push.

The boulder shot
through the air and slammed against the boy, absorbing him into the stone. The
teens could hear his screams from inside the boulder as it rolled away towards
town boundaries.

Richie and
Trini ran past the last of the mob and sprinted after the boulder. Jason saw
them run off through the corner of his eye. “Let’s go,” he said to the others
as he flipped a mobster to the ground.

Jason, Zack,
and Jonathan started moving on the offensive to fight past the townspeople, but
limited their attacks to flips and leg sweeps. The teens shoved through the
last of the move and broke into a sprint, chasing after their two teammates and
the imprisoned boy.

They followed
the boulder to a quarry nearby the town. The boulder ricocheted to the top of a
nearby cliff and rolled to a halt. The Youkai scientist Yugami stepped forward
and placed his hand over the boulder. The long-nosed Youkai monster, Tengu,
stood beside the scientist.

Tengu had dark
orange skin and a brown leather vest for armor. Patches of white hair streaked
down his arms and legs. His eyes were jade and his teeth were fangs.

“Ninja Ranger!”
Yugami shouted, a mad grin on the scientist‘s face. “I have a present for you.”

Yugami poured a
vile of green liquid over the boulder. The liquid seeped through cracks in the
rock. The boulder suddenly flashed with energy and five pulses of dark green
light shot to the ground below. The light dissipated with a puff of smoke.

When the smoke
cleared, five Youkai monsters appeared. The Rangers had defeated each of the
monsters before:

Gurasha, a
green-skinned monster with fins stretching between his arms and chest. Red and
yellow markings seemed patterned across his head and chest. He had an almost
leaf-like appearance on his skin.

Shaid, the
police Youkai whose body was green and blue with leather segments running along
his side and back. He had a long, reptilian tail extending from his tailbone.
The creature’s head was mushroom shaped, but jagged. He had no eyes or features
on his face except for a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.

Nurikabe, the
Youkai whose dark twisted body resembled muscle tissue, covered with eyes. He
wore a dark robe. He had tried to seduce Trini with a vast barrage of illusions
and forced dreams.

Mokuren, a
Youkai whose body was made of brick segments.

The five
rangers snapped into fighting stances. Richie wrinkled his brow with confusion.
“We’ve beaten them before.”

Jason narrowed
his eyes and readied his morpher. “We’ll just have to do it again.”

“Shogun
transform!” the five shouted together, their morphers in hand. “Ninja, power!”
energy whirled around them as they morphed into their Ranger forms.

The five
monsters charged forward alongside a group of Dorodoro. The Rangers unsheathed
their swords and ran towards their opponents.

Gurasha
activated a double-edged blade that fit over his right forearm and fist. The
attachment was an upgrade from the Youkai scientist. The monster chopped the
blade down towards Ninjared’s head. Ninjared parried the blow and thrashed his
sword back across the monster’s body.

The green-skinned Youkai stood his ground, spinning
with the blow and bringing his double-edged blade back around for another blow.
Ninjared lifted his sword to block the strike, but the monster’s powerful
armblade knocked past the sword and slashed across the Red Ranger’s armor.

Ninjared fell
back hard against the ground. Gurasha was significantly stronger than when the
monster originally battled the Red Ranger.

Ninjared
flipped back to his feet as the Youkai swung its armblade again. Ninjared
stayed on the defense, parrying blows, slapping the blade away while he looked
for an opening in the monster’s defense.

Ninjared
sidestepped and parried a blow while spinning his own blade towards the
monster’s neck. Gurasha grabbed the blade with his free hand and slammed his
broad blade across the Ranger’s chest. The blade exploded on impact and sent
the Ranger flying off his feet.

Ninjared went
stumbling down a hill of dirt.

A group of
Dorodoro armed with staffs surrounded Ninjawhite. She swung her blade upward,
chopping through a staff, as she spun forward and slammed a reverse sidekick
against the grunt.

A second soldier swung its staff towards the White
Ranger’s head. Ninjawhite ducked underneath the staff while running her blade
across the soldier’s chest, her sword sparking upon impact.

Another grunt
pounced forward, swinging its blade towards Ninjawhite. The White Ranger
parried the blow and brought her blade back slashing across the grunt’s chest.

Nurikabe
extended the palm of his hand. The eye embedded in his palm fired a volley of
optic blast bursts that exploded against Ninjawhite’s chest.

The White
Ranger stumbled backward across the ground. She rose back to her feet as an
illusion surrounded her. The Youkai monster projected an illusion of hundreds
of eyes that surrounded Ninjawhite and caused a wave of vertigo. Ninjawhite
collapsed to her knees, her head in pain. The eye illusions flashed, causing a
series of explosions to rip across the Ranger’s armor and tossed her backward.

Nearby,
Ninjablue dashed through a group of Dorodoro, his blade a whirl of motion. The
Ranger was growing more accustomed to his powers every fight. His sword slashed
through the grunts, his blade sparking through each blow.

The brick
Youkai Mokuren snuck up behind Ninjablue and tackled against his back. The Blue
Ranger was knocked backward. Ninjablue stayed on his feet and swung his sword
around, slashing across the Youkai.

The Youkai
barely felt the blow. Mokuren slammed his brick head against the Ranger’s
chest. The blow sparked upon impact, knocking the Ranger backward.

Dorodoro surrounded Ninjablack. The Black Ranger
thrashed horizontally through a soldier and continued his spin while slamming a
hook kick across a second grunt’s head.

Cubare
throttled forward, bashing aside its own troops to attack the Black Ranger.

Ninjablack
didn’t have much room to maneuver because of the Dorodoro.

Cubare plowed
against Ninjablack, explosions tearing across his armor as the monster sent him
crashing backward.

Several meters
from Ninjablack, Shaid slammed his tail against Yellow Ranger’s chest.
Ninjayellow rolled back into a crouched position and pulled out his blaster,
firing pulses of golden energy that exploded against the monster.

The Youkai
hurled his own blade forward like a helicopter propeller. The blade slashed
across Ninjayellow’s armor, sending him flying backward.

The five Ninja
Rangers slowly stumbled to their feet as they regrouped. The Youkai monsters
gathered together as the long-nosed monster Tengu leapt down to join them. “We
have you over powered,” Tengu gloated.

“We’re not
through yet,” Ninjared said.

“Oh, but you
are,” Tengu said with a laugh as he extended his hand towards the sky. Dark
clouds formed above and lightning crashed against all six Youkai monsters. The
lightning energized and expanded their every cell, causing them to grow giant.

“Oh, man,”
Ninjablack said as they each took a step backward. Not even the team’s veteran
Rangers ever had to deal with six giant monsters.

The Rangers
pulled out their scrolls. “Shogunzords, awaken!” The five armored Shogun
warriors arose from the distance with an awesome display of power. The Rangers
levitated backward and merged with their individual zords.

“Split up and
attack!” Red Ape shouted.

Red Ape armed
his x-shaped slider blade and tossed it forward towards Gurasha. The Youkai
knocked the blade away and swung his double-edged arm blade across the zord’s
chest. The blade sparked upon impact and knocked the zord backward.

White Crane
armed two double-blade prong weapons and swung them down towards the
eye-covered Youkai. Nurikabe sidestepped away and slammed a volley of optic
blasts that exploded against the zord.

Cubare sped
past Black Frog, crashing against the zord and forcing him backward.

Yellow Bear
swung his fist towards the cop Youkai monster. The blow slammed against Shaid,
but the Youkai whipped around and slammed a tail across the yellow-armored
zord.

Blue Wolf was
forced back by a flurry of punches from the brick Youkai. Each punch slammed
against the zord with a burst of spark.

Tengu stepped
forward, an evil grin on his face. He lifted his hand to get the Rangers’
attention. “I would take caution before you continued this conflict.”

The bodies of
the five Youkai monsters fluctuated, their bodies becoming semi translucent.
The Rangers could see the bodies of the five captured children, one in each of
the monsters.

Tengu laughed.
“These Youkai replicas are being anchored to the souls of these humans.”

“No!” Red Ape
shouted.

“Yes,” Tengu
said. The Youkai extended his hand and fired a crimson energy blast. The other
monsters fired energy pulses that exploded against the zords with a massive
explosion.

The zords fell
backward and crashed against the ground. The Rangers fell from the zord and
slammed against the ground below. Their armor flashed and forcibly demorphed.

Five slender
zords appeared with bursts of energy. Each resembled a slimmer version of the
Shogunzords. The flexible zords were armed with light armor, making them more
maneuverable and agile.

The teens
readied their morphers. “Shogun Transform!” they shouted as they morphed back
into their armor and ran towards their fallen zords. The Rangers merged back
with their Shogunzords.

The Shogunzords
rose back to their feet. The Battlezords stood alongside their respective
Shogunzords.

“Attack!” Red
Ape shouted, ordering the Battlezords into combat.

Battle Crane
leapt through the air and slammeda
kick against the eye-covered Youkai. The monster stumbled backward and fired a
volley of optic blasts, but the Battlezord flipped away from the blasts.

The monsters
were taken aback by the sudden display of strength and agility from the new
zords. Battle Wolf managed to lift the brick Youkai and toss the giant monster
through the air. Battle Frog and Battle Bear tackled against opposite sides of
the cop Youkai, nearly crushing the monster.

Battle Ape
slammed a flying sidekick against Tengu. The long-nosed Youkai went tumbling
backward. Red Ape noticed the other monsters’ strength wane when the long-nosed
Youkai was hit. Ninjared had learned from his first battle with Bandora’s
monsters to trust his instincts in these situations.

“Guys, we have
to take out the long nosed one,” he said.

The five
Shogunzords regrouped near Tengu as the Battlezords held the other monsters at
bay.

“Shogunzord
fusion!” the Rangers shouted. Their zords crackled with energy and started to
reconfigure. The zords merged, armor fusing together and forming a giant shogun
warrior.

The sword
ignited with fiery energy and slashed downward, ripping through Tengu and
tearing the Youkai apart. The monsters energy overloaded and exploded, its body
turning to fiery ash that faded into nothingness.

The five Youkai
replicas vanished and the children appeared unconscious on the ground.

The townspeople
returned to normal and the children were reunited with their families. The
ranges were gathering on the outskirts of town near Nekomaru. Richie was alone
near the passenger side of the van when Trini walked over to him.

“Hey,” Trini
said, smiling at him. “Are you ready to head off?”

Richie smiled
and nodded. “This place wasn’t exactly friendly.”

Trini nodded.
“But at least you handled yourself well. I’ve been meaning to ask you, where
did you learn to fight like that?”

Richie looked
away, and Trini could tell it was a touchy subject.

“Just something
I picked up from back home,” Richie said, leaving it at that.

He did not tell
her the truth. The truth was Richie started learning martial arts as a hobby,
following in his father’s footsteps. His father had been a police officer in
Angel Grove. When Richie was a boy, he saw his father murdered before his very
eyes. From that day on, martial arts became a tool for vengeance.